This is just a prologue for one of those many post-Bleach fics. And, this will be the only chapter that's in the present tense. The rest will all be in past tense from the main characters view point. And that's my intense and cold authors note over, starting on my fun one!

Whee, got bored and my imagination took over my body and came up with this. Also…the next five chapters of this story are already written. Chapters two and three happen before this prologue, and then from there on out, it's after this chapter. But, don't worry, I've made it so it's not really that confusing. xD Critique is welcomed! 8D

Most people, for their sixteenth birthday get cool things. Like credit cards, or cars or stuff like that. Me? I get a giant picture of my mother to hang in my room.

Let me explain.

First of all – my mother is dead. She died shortly after I was born, so, I don't really remember her and I'm not really sad about it, because how can I be? I didn't know her, so I can't mourn her. I think that my lack of melancholy on this matter is partly the reason I got this stupid memorial to begin with.

Secondly – my father, like his father before him, is mad. Completely bonkers. Needs locked up in the house with the white cushioned walls. Crazy. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

So, yeah, he's nuts. We already have a giant memorial picture of Mother in our living room and beside the one of my paternal grandmother at my grandfather's house. So, tell me why exactly I need one for my room. It would take up valuable wall space that I could use for my idol posters! I don't need anymore reminding that my mother is dead, thank you very much. My father must be a sadist as well as a psycho if he wants to keep reminding himself of that.

My whole family is crazy. My uncle on my mothers side (the only remaining member of her family, it seems, and he's not even related by blood. He's my mothers brother in law) sent me a necklace with a plum blossom charm on it. It was cute, I admit, but the note he sent with it?

To my niece,

To remind you of the flowers that bloomed on the death day of your name sake, I give you this necklace. Happy sixteenth birthday.

Creeeeeeeepy. It's like every man related to me is obsessed with the woman that made him a widower. Oh, yeah, by the way, I'm named after my dead aunt. See, I told you my family was screwy. The only normal one is my dad's sister. Well. He has two. They're twins. And as untwinlike as you can get. The normal one plays ladies soccer at an international level. So it's a novelty when she comes to visit. The one who inherited the crazy gene is a kindergarten teacher, and needs a tranquiliser every time she comes near me. I'm not a kid anymore, I don't need informed of how many centimetres I have grown since the last time I saw you.

She gave me a big pile of my favourite artists albums…I guess you could say I like the stuff that came out at the start of the century, like Hikki-chan, Super Junior, Access, Tamaki Nami, Aqua Timez, Yui, High and Mighty Color, stuff like that. Due to the fact that there must be like, twenty five CD's in that box, her respect points have gone way up. The other twin sent me a signed soccer ball, jersey and boots. These shall be framed, never worn and shown very proudly to my best friends.

The presents I got from my friends were cool (a phone charm and three first release edition volumes of my favourite manga, if you were wondering). My friends are cool. Yeah. Just cool. Not amazing or praise worthy, because they're annoyingly dense of each other, and if I have to leave a room to make throwing up noises because they're making the goo-goo eyes at each other today, I'm gonna throw those presents back in their faces.

It's like, geez, confess to each other already! I'm not as close as they are, because their mothers were best best friends and stuff, and my father was only just a friend of their parents (which is how we all came to meet, when we were the ripe old age of four), and there's a funny story behind all our parents. See, Nem-chan's dad hated my dad, while her mum had a mega crush on him. And Ken-chan's mum ALSO had a crush on my dad, and his dad had a crush on my mum. So, I am therefore coolest out of the three of us, because I was born to the pair that everyone wanted.

I only have two proper friends. I guess you could count my classmates, but they're more of acquaintances. There are some things that the three of us have in common that the others wouldn't really understand. Ah! You probably think I'm stuck up, or like, really emo but really, I'm not.

It's just like; all three of us have lost a blood relative. I lost my mother, Ken-chan lost his dad, and Nem-chan lost her brother. And, incidentally, we're all named after dead people who were important to our parents. Or had done something for our parents. Or something similar to that. Because Nem-chan's middle name is weird (it's like, Spanish or something), and she's apparently named after some girl who saved her mum's life. It makes you wonder what kind of person her mother was when she was younger.

Another thing about us that we have in common. Our parents are quite young. Like, my dad is the oldest (albeit, by two days), and he's only thirty three. So while everyone else's parents are hitting their fifties, it's awkward to say that our mothers went and got themselves pregnant at the fine old age of eighteen. Great example to set there, mum! Go get yourself preggers, pop out a kid and then die three months later, leaving your born-out-of-wedlock child to be raised by her idiot teenaged father. I'm not going to bitch about Ken-chan and Nem-chan's mothers because they're nice people, and they didn't die on their children.

Maybe I'm being a little harsh. You're probably wondering why our parents decided to be another statistic in the teenage pregnancy percentage. Well, they've always avoided that question. My dad does it most effectively by bursting into tears and throwing himself against afore mentioned memorial poster, wailing my mother's name. Nem-chan's mum gets a faraway look on her face and then goes to look at old photo albums, and her dad…well, he pushes his glasses up his nose, makes them glint in the light and goes back to his work. We don't bother with Ken-chan's mum. She'd beat us up if we mention it again (she was the Vale Tudo champion before she had Ken-chan. She'd take us on no prob). So, yeah, if any of you find out why, let us know. We're dying to.

That reminds me. One last thing we have in common, that no one will ever understand. I and my friends, that is, Hisana Kurosaki, Nemu Ishida and Kenpachi Arisawa-Abarai, we can all see ghosts. So…stick that in your juice box and suck it.